Underground Undergrads:UCLA's Undocumented Immigrants Speak Out

As part of an ongoing series of conversations on international migration, Migration Projects @ Mason is pleased to announce a book talk and DVD presentation of Underground Undergrads: UCLA Undocumented Immigrants Speak Out.  Kent Wong, Director of UCLA's Center for Labor Research and Education and Mantias Ramos, UCLA graduate and immigration rights activist, will discuss the DREAM Act, an important piece of legislation designed to ensure that all students have access to higher education.  The event will be held on Thursday, November 12, 2009, 1:30-2:30pm at the Johnson Center Cinema at George Mason University's Fairfax Campus.

Every year tens of thousands of students who have grown up in the United States and graduate from U.S. high schools face uncertain futures due to their undocumented status.  The DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation introduced to Congress in March 2009, seeks to reform current immigration law that keeps the children of undocumented immigrants from gaining legal residency and limits their access to the life-changing opportunity of undergraduate education.  Also known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, passage of this legislation would initiate two major shifts in how this population is treated under the law: It would permit students who have grown up in the U.S. to apply for temporary legal status, and to ulitmately secure permanent status and eligibility for citizenship after attending collges or serving in the miliary. The legislation would eliminate penalties incrurred by states that provide in-state tuition regardless of a students' legal status.

Our speakers wil not only address the significance of the publication of Underground Undergrads, which chronicles the challenges and triumphs of young people striving to achieve an education under teh most desperate circumstances, but will speak to broader questions of immigration reform, including: What are the potential pitfalls of linking miliatary service to acces to legal status?  And how might thte growing concensus about the necessity of providing a path to citizenship for undocumented students be expanded to include the millions of undocumented workers crucial to our economy? Please join us and our speakers engage these and other important issues in a timely and critical discussion.

If you have any questions, please contact Debra Lattanzi Shutika at George Mason University.

Poultry Processing Film fined after immigration raid

This article from today's Baltimore Sun discusses a settlement between Federal Prosecutors and House of Raeford Farms. Raeford Farms was raided a few months back, and subsequently fined 1.5 million dollars for hiring undocumented workers.

I highlight one aspect of this settlement--the perpetrators, two plan managers, will avoid criminal records if they complete probation.

I'm all for giving non-violent offenders a second chance. I also strongly oppose the practice of incarcerating people without just cause. But I do think it inherently unfair that these two managers --who are now convicted criminals--should be able to walk away from this incident without criminal records.

It further reinforces the fact that U.S. immigration laws and enforcement turn a blind eye to those who hire the undocumented, while the immigrants are left to pay the costs for our broken system.

in reference to:

"The deal will also let two indicted managers at the poultry company's Greenville, S.C., plant avoid criminal records, provided they enter a probationary program."
- Poultry firm fined $1.5 million after immigration raid, monitoring -- baltimoresun.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Driving without English?

We've all read about the hazards of driving while Latino (or African American), but is it possible to be ticketed for not speaking English? According to the Dallas Morning News article, it is. In fact, 39 drivers were ticketed in a 3 year period. Hmm, I guess we don't want to habla espanol in Tejas these days.

The point here is not so much that this is just completely ridiculous--which it of course is--there is not official language and it is NOT illegal to speak a language other than English. However, this report points to a serious issue--if this can happen in Dallas, where there is a robust Latino population, what does it say about the rest of the U.S.?

Last year, a woman was beaten by police in Prince William County, VA when she was pulled over and refused to sign her ticket. She did not speak English, and tried to communicate with the officer that she did not want to sign something she could not read or understand.  This article raises a larger question:
what is happening to immigrants and foreign visitors in the U.S. when they encounter our law enforcement officials and cannot effectively communicate in English?
in reference to: Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News (view on Google Sidewiki)

U.S. Supreme Court seeks opinion on Ariz. Immigration Case

At issue is whether federal immigration law prevents states from imposing their own penalties on businesses that employ undocumented immigrants. This case has been filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against the state of Arizona after it passed a law in 2007 that imposed penalties on businesses that hire undocumented workers.

This could be an interesting case in several ways. First, it could halt much of the local legislation that has been enacted in jurisdictions across the U.S. That could be good news for immigrants across the nation, many of whom (even those with full authorization to live in the U.S.) have been unfairly discriminated against because they look Latino. Secondly, it could send a clear signal that U.S. labor law, which is set up to shelter employers who violate immigration laws, should continue as per precedent.

I'm no fan of punishing immigrants when the people who hire them are allowed to violate the law with impunity. However, the attempts to address our immigration problems locally has simply failed. It should be interesting to see what comes of this.

in reference to: UPDATE: US High Court Seeks Opinion On Ariz Immigration Case - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

The New Faces of Day labor

This article from the Las Vegas Sun discusses a recent trend at day labor centers: the appearance of U.S. born workers.  The idea  of Americans forming a cue along Latinos in a Home Depot parking lot generates a 21st Century Grapes of Wrath image.  This is where we are.  The economy is that bad.

But the fact that we're likely to see Anglo faces among the brown "loitering" outside our convenience stores.  Perhaps now we can rethink the idea of local day labor centers.

5 Misconceptions about the Land of Opportunity

This article from today's Washington Post highlights a few false impressions that many Americans have about the U.S. being a land of opportunity, including one about immigration.

You'll note that I changed the title to "misconceptions" from "myths."  The folks a Brookings have my undying respect, but they should know the difference between a myth (a type of sacred narrative) and misconception (belief not supported by data or "facts").

Mexican Soldiers find tunnel under U.S.-Mexico border

The secret tunnel discovered near the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

Whispers of a secret tunnel running under the border between the U.S. and Mexico have lived for decades in the folklore of the two countries.  Earlier this week, Mexican authorities actually found the makings of a tunnel from Tijuana.  Mexican soldiers discovered a sophisticated but incomplete tunnel running under the border into the United States and arrested six people in the process of digging, the army said.  I point this story out because of who discovered it, apprehended the diggers, and essentially shut it down: the Mexican Military.  The story concludes:

Tunnels under the US-Mexico border of varying degrees of sophistication have been found in different areas of the border, including one found in Nogales, Arizona, in June, and large sophisticated tunnels in the Tijuana area in 2008 and 1993.

What's Becoming?

The older I get, the more I realize that some problems (but certainly not all) will tend to work themselves out.

Take immigration for instance.  When I look at the future of America, I see a new generation of voters.  These young women and men are growing up in more diverse neighborhoods and accustomed to the American that's becoming.

Then I happen to stumble on articles like the one linked above.  It outlines how "Fifty-four members of Congress, mostly Republicans, have signed a letter to President Barack Obama praising the 287(g) program that allows specially trained state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law." It goes on to say that President Obama has been to soft on "aliens."

Isn't that great?

If  you read this blog very often, or even scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll see that I really disagree with the use of local law enforcement for issues that aren't, well for lack of a better word, local law enforcement.  So why does this article make me chuckle?

It's simple: it's obvious that the folks fighting immigration and all of the other alleged social "ills" that are defining the American that's becoming are part of an agenda that's dying.  Literally.  Within 30 years, who do these people think are going to be voting?  Are they daft enough to truly believe that immigrants and their native-born children are truly going to be pushed back to their ancestral homelands?

Perhaps they do.  For now I'm content allowing them to have their little fantasy of white America.  But that's not the America of today or tomorrow.  It's gone. And in the next few decades when these immigrant, gay and otherwise marginalized groups come of age and start voting, who do you think they're going to vote for?

That's the America, the one where the GOP of the early 21st Century is a museum relic, is the one that I'm looking forward to seeing.

It is time to start talking Immigration Reform?

From the Gardian Newpaper (UK):

Latinos need more than lip service

Families are being torn apart by America's broken immigration system. President Obama needs to show leadership and fix it

Barack Obama greets supporters at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's gala. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty

I'm not talking the first 100 days here, but sometime during his first term, Obama should revive interest in comprehensive immigration reform.
(Get to work on immigration, 7 November 2008)

When Barack Obama won two-thirds of the Latino vote a year ago, he did so without making immigration reform a major part of his election campaign. At a time when the economy teetered on the verge of disaster, it seemed enough to know that he favoured a pathway to citizenship to bring the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country "out of the shadows" and endorsed a guest worker programme. Like the rest of the nation, we focused on other issues – and then we voted for him in bigger numbers than the general population.

 But because so many of our friends, family members and neighbours are affected, the long-delayed overhaul of the dysfunctional immigration system is never far from our minds. So when, earlier this year, Obama said that the issue would dominate his fall schedule, Latino groups nationwide rejoiced. The broken system that carried out inefficient and sometimes cruel workplace and neighbourhood raids, that kept an administrative backlog the size of Delaware and that tore families apart would at last get the attention it has desperately needed for years.

But ever since August, when Obama, in the midst of economic woes and a healthcare war still going on, announced that he was pushing immigration reform back to 2010, it has seemed like a distant dream – especially because next year's midterm elections in Congress promise to be brutal.

The question hangs ominously in the air: Why would a president whose approval ratings have recently slipped and whose party must face comeback-hungry Republicans in a battle to hold House and Senate seats, and who has already taken one divisive, Sisyphean task – healthcare reform – take on another?

Quite simply, because it's the right thing to do. As I wrote in my post-election column a year ago, it makes economic sense, something we could certainly use right now. But let me add one more reason – a humanitarian one.

I recently interviewed families who had been forced apart because of immigration issues. In one case, an undocumented mother who had been brought to the US as a baby was denied legal residency – though her parents had been granted it – because of a technicality that she appealed four times. One month before she was to graduate nursing school, Cristina Ramirez was picked up at her southern California home at 8am and dropped off with nothing but her cell phone in Tijuana, Mexico at 2.30pm. She spent the next 18 months living in the dangerous city while negotiating the labyrinthine immigration system to get back to her four kids and US citizen husband.

In another case, I spoke to a father of two whose undocumented wife had been deported but who had chosen to go into hiding rather than return to Nicaragua on his own deportation order. As US-born citizens, his kids were entitled to stay. But because of his illegal status, they would virtually be forced to leave with him or be left behind with relatives if he honoured the order.

Ronald Soza – who had fled Nicaragua's political turmoil and tried unsuccessfully to get legal status through a special law favouring political prisoners from that country – was in tears as he recalled the heart-wrenching decision to remain with the kids rather than have the three join his wife. "This is their country. They are both intelligent and great students and here, they can finish their education and be somebody," he said, in tears. "In Nicaragua they'd simply have no future."

In many cases like Soza's, the parents bear great responsibility for putting themselves and their kids in a questionable situation. But so should the US, which has never come to terms with the fact that its demand for cheap labour makes dangerous, illegal border crossings attractive and its immigration system has never successfully dealt with foreign workers. Obama has the opportunity to change that now. He should take it.

Press Release: Migration Projects @ Mason

Press Release

A study by George Mason University researchers has found that a majority of residents in two Manassas neighborhoods express deep-seated anti-immigrant sentiments, though fewer than half say immigration has affected them personally.  They survey, which included life history interviews, was conducted from Spring 2008 to Summer 2009 to attain an in-depth understanding of the forces inciting a local movement to adopt legislation to "crackdown" on illegal immigration in Prince William County.

Forty-six percent of those surveyed indicated that immigration had had either no effect on them personally or has had a positive effect.  A total of 79 percent stated that they like their neighborhoods and 56.9 percent said that they planned to stay in their neighborhood in the next five years.

Yet, 53 percent of the residents in the Weems and Sumner Lake neighborhoods surveyed stated that the U.S. should take decisive action to deport illegal immigrants, and/or blamed them for depleting local resources such as health care and education.  Some expressed strong anti-immigrant sentiments as indicated by the statements: "The place is being barraged with Latinios....Everywhere you go, there are swarms of them," and, "Can I send them on a bus and load it up until they all speak English?"  Others were more moderate in their sentiments, citing the issue of immigrants having entered the country illegally as a key concern.  Researchers also found that some neighborhood residents were involved in community activities aimed at minimizing neighborhood conflicts around issues of immigration.

Interviews were conducted in selected neighborhoods revealed that Census tract data and press accounts to have become home ot both white, native-born Americans and Latino immigrants in the preceding decade.  The survey employed an in-depth sampling strategy, the ethnosurvey, which requires in-person interviews at randomly selected street addresses.  The survey produced 104 responses for face-to-face interviews of approximately one hour in which residents were asked their opinions on a number of neighborhood quality of life measures.  These findings were followed by 21 life history interviews that were taped and transcribed verbatim.

Researchers Carol Cleaveland and Debra Lattanzi Shutika are examining the discrepancy between the perceived high quality of life for most residents, and the expression of strong anti-immigrant sentiments.  One explanation, the researchers note, might be the patterns of residency--in particular the use of residential property to house large groups of men.  Neighbors believed that the men had been recruited for the construction industry, which had flourished prior to the recession.  Sixty-six percent of those interviewed complained of overcrowded houses, and 59 percent stated that too may cars are parked on streets as a result of this overcrowding.  Fifty-three percent said tha some homes in their neighborhood were poorly maintained.  Seventy percent cited foreclosures as a problem in their neighborhoods.

Obama Announces the End of the HIV Travel Ban

President Obama announced the end of the the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals, noting that the decision to do so was  "rooted in fear rather than fact."

Opposing Lou Dobbs

Is someone trying to kill Lou Dobbs?

Apparently, he thinks so.  Dobbs recently reported an incident where his wife was shot at in front of his home.  Dobbs claims that pro-immigrant groups have been after his hide for his vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric, which has been linked to hate groups.  That aside, was this a true attempt on  Dobb's life or (more accurately) his wife's life?

NJ State police don't seem to think so.  Apparently, Dobbs lives in an area where hunters frequent, and the troopers tend to think that this was a hunting accident.  If it wasn't, the alleged murderer wasn't a very good shot.  The officer noted that the bullet struck the "'apex of the house, near the roof,' high above a standing person."

New Publications from the Migration Policy Institute

The following abstracts and links (all from MPI) will take you to three new publications from the Migration Policy Institute.

Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration
By Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, and Aaron Terrazas
Increasingly, policymakers are considering whether circular migration could improve the likelihood that global mobility gains will be shared by migrant-origin and destination countries alike — as well as by migrants themselves. This MPI Insight examines the record of circular migration, both where it has arisen naturally and where governments have taken action to encourage it.



Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas
Edited by Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias
This book explores how developing-country governments have institutionalized ties with emigrants and their descendents. It offers an unprecedented taxonomy of 45 diaspora-engaging institutions found in 30 developing countries, exploring their activities and objectives. It also provides important practitioner insights from Mali, Mexico, and the Philippines. Contributors include: Kathleen Newland, Director, Migrants, Migration, and Development and Refugee Policy programs, MPI; Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, Associate Policy Analyst, MPI; Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Chairman, Development Bank of the Philippines and former Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment, Government of the Philippines; Badara Aliou Macalou, Minister of Malians Abroad and African Integration, Government of Mali; and Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento, Calif., and former Executive Director, Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Government of Mexico.


Hometown Associations: An Untapped Resource for Immigrant Integration?
By Will Somerville, Jamie Durana, and Aaron Matteo Terrazas
Hometown associations, the organizations that immigrants create for social, economic development, and political empowerment purposes, play an important – and underexamined – role in immigrant integration. Though policymakers focus chiefly on the associations’ development potential, this MPI Insight recommends cooperative interventions to strengthen their immigrant integration capacity.

Gutierrez says immigration reform "can't wait"

Follow this link to Congressman Gutierrez' interview on NPR's Tell Me More, broadcast earlier today.

LAPD wants to fight crime, not immigration

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, who is ending his seven years as chief of the LAPD, said Tuesday the LAPD must stay out of the business of collaring illegal immigrants if it wants to keep solving crimes. He urged his eventual successor to continue a three-decade-old policy known as Special Order 40. It prohibits officers from stopping people solely to determine whether they are in the country illegally. He said,
"My officers can't prevent or solve crimes if victims or witnesses are unwilling to talk to us because of the fear of being deported."

San Francisco to remain a Sanctuary City for Immigrant Youth

Three Cheers for San Francisco--

Undocumented youths arrested on felony charges in San Francisco would have to be convicted before police could turn them over to federal immigration officials under a new policy approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors voted Tuesday to overturn an existing ordinance that allows police to hand over juvenile illegal immigrants after they have been arrested on felony charge.

The supervisors' 8-2 vote is enough to override an expected veto from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Immigration questions on the 2010 Census

More on this debate here. It appears that reasonable people do see the folly in this quest.

JUSTICE for Immigrant YOUTH

A social movement to protect immigrant youth in San Francisco.

Fairfax Co. VA to initiate "Secure Communities" Program

Fairfax County, Virginia officials are pushing local law enforcement initiate a new federal program to automate fingerprint checks on suspected undocumented immigrants in county jails. "Secure Communities is not a 287(g) program, which essentially an agreement that local law enforcement will hold and turn over suspected criminal immigrants.

The focus will be on identifying criminal aliens who have been convicted of Level 1 crimes, which include major drug offenses and violent offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. ICE agents plan to interview inmates using video teleconferencing equipment in the county's Adult Detention Center.
in reference to:

The focus will be on identifying criminal aliens who have been convicted of Level 1 crimes, which include major drug offenses and violent offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. ICE agents plan to interview inmates using video teleconferencing equipment in the county's Adult Detention Center.
- Fairfax gearing up for federal illegal immigrant checks at jails - Virginia Politics - (view on Google Sidewiki)

Census 2010: The Citizenship Question

Two republican senators (Vitter of LA and Bennett of UT) have proposed an amendment to a spending bill that will bar funds being used for the Census if it doesn't ask about a person's citizenship status. The measure would require a change that would cost millions of dollars--and a reprint of 425 million census questionnaires-- and possibly threaten the accuracy of the count.

This seems like one more GOP measure to waste money. Has anyone else noticed that they have no problem ignoring budgetary issues if they want to push a partisan issue like this?

On the upside, this type of political maneuvering could force congress to consider immigration reform sooner.
in reference to: Lawmakers Battle on Census Question - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

PWC agrees to abide with new ICE rules

New ICE rules governing the implementation of 287(g) programs, those aimed at allowing local law enforcement to apprehend undocumented immigrants.  The new ICE rules require local law enforcement to focus on those who commit the most violent crimes and drug offenses.  The changes are intended to standardize the program after a U.S. Government Accountability Office report concluded that some of the agencies in the program had overstepped their authority:

The new agreement adds a provision that says all local agency personnel are bound by federal civil rights laws and puts penalties in place for agencies that fail to follow the agreement. It requires ICE to do background checks on all Prince William police officers participating in the immigration enforcement unit. 

Undocumented immigrants who commit less serious crimes, such as larceny, burglary and fraud, and have never come in contact with ICE before, will "most likely" be released after serving their sentence and will have a federal court date.  ICE may hold them, however, if resources are available.

This type of standardization is long overdue.  While it would be preferable if ICE were in charge of immigration issues, and local law enforcement were in charge of local crimes.  Short of that, this is a step in the right direction.

Costumes for those who want to be Illegal Aliens

This article reviews several costumes that spoof being an illegal "alien."  Apparently, Target offered this costume on-line, until consumers expressed outrage.

I think there are two ways of reading this: one is obviously offensive, and supports the idea that undocumented immigrants are strange, dangerous, and scary.

The other really spoofs the idea that there is such a thing as an illegal alien.  In this sense, the costume points out that the idea of an illegal alien is just silly--the only aliens are the ones that are dreamed up by conspiracy theorists and UFO chasers.

Census Prep: Are we Ready?

The Census is probably the most important non-partisan examination of immigration in America. To be effective, people need to be counted. This article highlights the fact that many U.S. cities are concerned that there will not be a good count next year.

The factors that contribute to the count are diverse, but 2010 will be unique because of home foreclosures that displace residents, and increase hostility toward immigrants, which discourages participation in the census.

A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found the following:

Pew's review of preparation efforts in 11 major cities, which had undercounts of residents in 2000 of up to 1.5 percent, found only five cities had committed public funds to census outreach - Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Phoenix and Baltimore. Even when cities had allotted funds, most were at sharply lower levels compared to 2000, due to the recession that has made state budgets tight.

Los Angeles faces difficulties of finding many of its residents who are now living in foreclosed houses and recreational vehicles, or "doubling up" with friends and relatives in single-family homes. Yet the city's $770,738 budget for outreach work is about half the amount it had in 2000.

Chicago, which missed an estimated 32,000 residents in 2000, spent nearly $1.3 million in city funds a decade ago; this year, it has allocated no money.

Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city, has been particularly slow in getting preparations under way, although officials insist they can catch up. A decade ago, the city set aside $200,000 for the census effort, but it has no such funds this time. Philadelphia also has not yet put in place a city outreach committee - unlike many other major cities - and has been relying on some support staff from the Census Bureau's regional offices.

Other cities with no public funds for census outreach include Atlanta, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

in reference to: Cities lag in preparations for high-stakes census - washingtonpost.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

DHS Reshapes its Immigration Program

The program, which deputizes local law enforcement to act as immigration agents, has been reshaped to encourage local police to apprehend potentially undocumented residents who have committed major crimes, with special focus on those who have already been incarcerated.

The agency has reined in local police units that target illegal immigrants at large, as these widespread sweeps to apprehend the undocumented are believed to use the law to justify racial profiling. Most prominently, the DHS scaled back the authority it had given to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, according to Arpaio. His operations in the Phoenix metropolitan area had led to charges of racial profiling and three federal investigations.

The Obama administration has made these changes to signal that they are serious about enforcing immigration laws against undocumented immigrants who are dangerous, but are also intent about upholding civil rights.

It is not clear that the switch in focus will limit racial profiling, however.

Omar C. Jadwat, staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, cited a report last month by the University of California at Berkeley School of Law as evidence that the administration's shift to jail checks would encourage some local police to arrest and book more minorities so their immigration status could be determined once they were behind bars. That study found that police in Irving, Tex., working with a separate ICE program, increased arrests of Hispanics for minor offenses by nearly 150 percent between April and September 2007.

"Focusing on jail programs as opposed to these [investigative] task force programs doesn't eliminate the serious problems we've seen with profiling," Jadwat said.

Iowa Meatpacker Manager on Trial for Immigration Violations

It's rare for American citizens, even those to knowingly violate immigration laws, to be held accountable for their actions. This article reports that Sholom Rubashkin is going to trial for a variety of charges, including 72 immigration violations.

Taking the Wrong Path toward Immigration Reform

As we consider how to reform immigration, one question is whether or not the U.S. should continue 287(g) programs, which allow local law enforcement officials to act as immigration agents. The article linked here clearly argues against this, with good reason.

Immigration enforcement deserves the full attention of the federal government. It is a federal issue, but more importantly, it's clear that local immigration enforcement leads to corruption and potentially institutional abuse of immigrants on the local level. I also think that many of these laws are thinly veiled attempts to legitimize racism.

"Victory" for undocumented college students?

The article from Inside Higher Ed highlights one of the many inconsistencies in the U.S. approach to addressing the issue of undocumented immigration. North Carolina has agreed to allow undocumented students attend its community colleges, but with a catch: they must pay out of state tuition.

There are nine states that allow the undocumented to attend university and pay in-state tuition (Texas,California,Utah,New York,Washington,Oklahoma,Illinois, Kansas,Nebraska, and New Mexico).

My question is this: who benefits from limiting this opportunity for the undocumented? It serves to quell the most vitriolic opponents of immigration, but at a huge societal cost. The undocumented are most likely going to be long-term residents of the U.S. It is in everyone's best interest to help them to become the most productive people they can be--for the sake of our future as well as their own.

Mex Vs. BC (Born Citizen) Pt. 1: "TRAVEL"

This is one of a series of funny parodies of the Mac/PC commercial.

Immigration & Health Care Reform

The article linked here is an editorial from Truthout.org. It discusses the reasoning why comprehensive health care would force the U.S. to reconsider, and become more strict, with immigration laws.

Has the anti-immigrant movement lost its mojo?

The news about immigration reform is sparse these days, but this article from the OC Register takes an interesting perspective in that it analyzes the status of the anti-immigrant movement in California.

One of the main factors that will no doubt influence whether or not legislation will pass is the level of in-fighting within anti-immigrant groups. In Manassas I've spoken to several people who became disenchanted with the megalomania of Greg Letiecq and his "Help Save Manassas" movement. It is telling when Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman movement says that anti-immigrant groups have lost their edge:

"The Minuteman movement has lost its mojo because of all this delusional mentality that has gotten into the movement… In our side of the argument they are all attacking each other," Gilchrist said, alluding to his legal wrangling with Coe and other former allies -- some who have formed new groups.

The slow disintegration of the Minutemen, he says mirrors the movement in general.

"I think amnesty will pass," he said.

It serves to reason that groups formed out of an alliance of animosity toward others would eventually suffer that same animosity turned inward. It's also hard to maintain a movement that is always against something. Eventually, people want to rally behind a cause that will move them forward.

N.C. Native Wrongly Deported

It's a sad state of affairs with the U.S. government deports one of its NATIVE BORN citizens. But that's what happened to Mark Lyttle according to this report. It states:

At the time of Mark Lyttle's deportation, immigration officials had criminal record checks that said he was a U.S. citizen. They had his Social Security number and the names of his parents. They had Lyttle's own sworn statement that he had been born in Rowan County.

None of this stopped them from leaving Lyttle, a mentally ill American who speaks no Spanish, alone and penniless in Mexico, where he has no ties.

U.S. Immigration officials worked Lyttle's case for 31/2 months and held him in immigration detention for more than six weeks, but it took a third party in Guatemala to confirm he was indeed an American citizen.

What happened? And how can this be prevented from happening again? Clearly, this is not only an immigration problem. What the nation needs is a new way of completing all types of investigations so that when facts are revealed, the investigators actually pay attention to them.

Like with so much of law enforcement, once an agency develops a narrative about the alleged perpetrator, they are loathe to reconsider their position. This is how it is possible for police to completely botch a kidnapping investigation, for instance, because they suspected the girl's step-father. Never mind that they routinely passed by the house where she was being held prisoner, and even interviewed her abductors. Her step-father was the most likely suspect. End of stoyr

In the case of wrongful deportation, people can get swept up in the dragnet of our broken immigration system for the smallest transgressions, such as a traffic ticket, and end up being returned to a country where they have no life or history.

Finding your mom--immigrant kids crossing the border

Last year the film La Misma Luna (Under the same Moon) offered a fictionalized account of a young boy crossing the U.S. Mexico border in search of his mother in Los Angeles. It's a heartwarming, albeit harrowing story where we see a pre-teen boy make his way north, escaping what could be extremely dangerous circumstances.

That is fiction. The soon to be released Which Way Home is a documentary that explores child immigrants in their journey to the U.S.

The film was premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival this summer, and will air on HBO on Monday, August 31.

Life in America: Immigrant Retirement

What happens when immigrants retire, or perhaps can no longer manage on their own. This article from today's Washington Post examines a new trend in nursing and retirement home: adapting to the needs of non-native born Americans.

Immigrant Kidnapping on the Border

It appears that kidnappings have moved north. This article describes recent trend of kidnapping the undocumented as they attempt to cross the border. Ransom is extorted from their relatives who are living in the U.S., sometimes without authorization.

The story highlights the case of an undocumented family in Fairfax, VA., who received a call from kidnappers after their in-laws has been kidnapped. The family decided to contact ICE for assistance. It appears that U.S. officials are concerned about saving the kidnapping victims:

Although ICE officials recognize that everyone involved -- the immigrants and the kidnappers -- have broken the law, they say they want to save lives first and sort out immigration status second. Allen said the victims are part of the criminal conspiracy, "but at the same time, most of them didn't sign up for what ended up happening."

The most striking aspect of this story is that the family they focus on are residents of Prince William County. When they realized what was happening to their family members, they went to the police.

U.S. Flying the Undocumented Home

U.S. Immigration authorities are flying illegal immigrants into central Mexico from Southern Arizona to discourage dangerous crossings in triple-digit desert heat. This is a program that began in 2004.

The answer to our budget woes?

This op-ed piece in today's post offers a surprising and radically practical idea: legalize drugs. The U.S. spends billions ineffectively fighting the drug war, so why not throw in the towel, legalize and regulate drugs, and let nature take its course?
No one can deny that there is money to be made here. Similarly, there is no denying that if we are engaged in war on drugs, we're losing miserably. Why not accept the reality before us and balance our budget at the same time?

Wait a minute-how many times on this very blog have I recommended a similar solution to the immigration problem? As a reminder: I suggested that the U.S. sell work permits to potential immigrant workers (assuming the government would do background checks, etc) and effectively shut down the border crossing business. This would mean the government would collect the billions spent by immigrants crossing the border. What about overpopulation? The deal is that the work visa would make the immigrant a free agent--free to find work anywhere. This solution allows the market to take care of excesses as most workers would could not find work would likely go home or elsewhere for work.

I know it's unlikely to happen. I just like to daydream that Americans might one day be pragmatists.

Crazy: America's "Preexisting Condition"?

This essay from today's Washington Post offers an overview some of the crazy ideas Americans have posed in response different legislative initiatives. Did you know, for instance, that many Americans once believed that the Civil Rights Act would enslave whites in the south?

It puts the most recent craziness about Health Care Reform in perspective.

Immigrant Detention Revisited

Several years ago I blogged on the deplorable conditions that detained immigrants must suffer while they are awaiting their hearings. This article from the L.A. Times indicates that conditions for detained immigrants have not improved under the Obama administration.

The U.S. is holding more than 30,000 immigrants are in custody today, which is up from 6,200 in 1992. If we are going to incarcerate these people, we need to treat them humanely. If we cannot treat them humanely, they should be released.

Flying while Brown

This article in the Washington Post documents the woes of Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan as he encountered U.S. Homeland Security the Newark Airport.

Litterbug? Leaving Water in the Dessert for crossing Immigrants

It appears that no good deed will go unpunished. This article from the LA Times details the case of Walt Staton, an Arizona resident who was charged with littering when he left gallon milk jugs full of water in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge:

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the plastic jugs he left for the immigrants endanger wildlife, and this week Staton was sentenced in federal court in Tucson on a charge of littering. He was given one year of unsupervised probation and ordered to spend 300 hours picking up trash.

Mr. Staton had originally been fined $175, but seeing his actions as a humanitarian effort, refused to pay and insisted on a trial. Prosecutors, apparently seeing this as a larger statement in the immigration debate, asked for $5000 in fines and 5 years probation.

But the story gets even better:

The government, which Staton's lawyer estimated spent about $50,000 to prosecute him, broadly criticized him in a sentencing memo for what officially was a littering case. Attorneys, for example, noted that No More Deaths volunteers often wrote "buena suerte," or "good luck," on the water jugs.

"The obvious conclusion is that the defendant and No More Deaths wish to aid illegal aliens in their entry attempt," the memo said.

"His actions are not about humanitarian efforts, but about protesting the immigration policies of the United States," the memo said. A U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman declined to comment Wednesday.

Arguing that Staton had "haphazardly left water for illegal aliens, drug smugglers and/or dangerous felons," prosecutors succeeded in persuading a judge to prohibit him from setting foot in the refuge during his probation.

It seems obvious that the prosecutors wanted to make Mr. Staton's desire to prevent death by dehydration as snubbing his nose to U.S. immmigration laws, such as they are. I wonder if those same prosecutors have the cojones to prosecute the contractors and small busines owners who routinely hire the undocumented, thus providing a motivation for crossing.

Obama and Immigration: How different from Bush?

This article from the NY Times outlines the nuanced differences between the Obama and Bush administrations on immigration enforcement. Although Neopolitano emphasizes that border security and employer sanctions are the focus and only undocumented criminal immigrants are deported, there is still probably too much emphasis (and money) being poured into border security.

I know the administration feels pressured to "prove" toughness on immigration enforcement, but I would rather see some of our democratic leaders show some back bone and start to stand down the right-wing opponents who represent themselves but nevertheless seem to always make their numbers look much larger and significant than they are. Border security doesn't work. We all know that. Why not try to demonstrate a better way and let the evidence of that success speak for itself?

Militia Resurgence

This report from the Southern Poverty Law Center documents the rise of radical militia groups in the U.S.

Town Hall Mobs

This op-ed piece in the NY Times discusses the anger expressed about health care reform and its links to cultural and racial anxiety at play in the U.S. today. I link this here because I think we'll see similar anxieties expressed when immigration reform is on the table next year.

Borders and Immigration Control

Even as his Health Care reform plans struggle, President Obama, speaking from the North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, said Monday that his administration will pursue a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, but that no action on legislation will happen before 2010.

What does the President envision? Here's a synopsis:

... Obama said that there needs to be "a pathway to citizenship" for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, and that the system must be reworked to avoid tensions with Mexico. Without it, he said, Mexicans will keep crossing the border in dangerous ways and employers will continue exploiting workers.

"We can create a system in which you have . . . an orderly process for people to come in, but we're also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United States to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so that they don't have to live in the shadows," Obama said during an hour-long news conference at the Cabañas Cultural Center in downtown Guadalajara. "Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No. This is going to be difficult."

So, nothing new here, except that the President has established a pattern of talking up immigration reform, here with a few details of what he wants, a multifaceted approach. Of note: the article linked here indicates from the title that Obama will focus on border control, when in fact the body of the article suggests the opposite.

Mexicans in Cananda

For years I have wondered why Mexicans seeking a better life have not simply bypassed the U.S. for our northern neighbor, Canada. There is ample work in Canada's oil industry in Alberta, for instance. And the Canadian government has long been fairly lenient admitting foreign residents. (The only drawback is the weather, as Mexicans in general avoid places with long harsh winters.)

It appears that some Mexican immigrants have also thought of this, as evidenced by talks at the NAFTA summit this week in Mexico. Immigration has been raised as a major issue at the meetings, but this time tensions are expected to be focused on Mexicans entering Canada, not the United States.

As reported by the NY Times today:

Too many Mexicans, the Canadian government complained, are fraudulently claiming political asylum in Canada, overwhelming the system. So Canada announced last month that it would begin requiring Mexican citizens to secure visas before entering the country, a decision that elicited outrage in Mexico.

The Cost of Immigrant Detention

The following is a re-post of the cost per night for housing detained immigrants:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement housed about 33,345 people per night in July at facilities across the country. Most are owned by local and state governments. A look at the amounts paid per night for each immigrant at some of those facilities, according to public records:

Orange County, N.Y. - $133.93

Monmouth County, N.J. - $105

Central Falls, R.I. - $101.76

Los Angeles County - $100.09

Otero County, N.M. - $96.99

Glendale, Calif. - $85

Pike County, Penn. - $81.50

Willacy County, Texas - $78

Henderson County, N.C. - $71.96

Eloy, Ariz. - $64.47

Farmville, Va. - $62.83

Stewart County, Ga. - $60.50

Pinal County, Ariz. - $59.64

Haskell County, Texas - $57.67

Imperial County, Calif. - $55.78

Perry County, Ala. - $45

Cobb County, Ga. - $42.58

Obama eyes immigration reform for early 2010

Reuters reports that President Obama is hoping to initiate legislation for comprehensive immigration reform in early 2010.

Although this is clearly something that needs to happen, 2 issues stand in the way of reform happening in 2010: the census and mid-term elections. It seems imprudent to provoke emotions around this issue even as the Census Bureau is attempting to count the undocumented. Reform talk and it accompanying controversies are likely to discourage immigrants from participating in the count. The mid-term elections may or may not present an opportunity for both parties--Democrats to reaffirm their commitment to America's newest arrivals and the GOP to continue to dig their grave with the nation's future voters.

Should be interesting.

Detention Centers will return to Federal employees to oversee treatment of inmates

The article from AP reports that the oversight of immigrant detainees will be returned to federal employees. Two years ago, DHS turned this function over to private industry.

The government has been criticized for its treatment of immigration detainees, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made detention policies a top priority for her department. These changes are seen as a move to improve detainee treatment.

Recommended Reading: The Snakehead

The Snakehead is the true account of the June 6, 1993, a small, weathered freighter, the Golden Venture, ran aground along the shoreline of New York's Rockaway Beach. The freighter, carrying 300 people from China's Fujian province, was in many ways an age-old American story of immigrants risking their lives for a better life. Each person on the freighter had paid $35,000 to smugglers (the going rate is now upward of $70,000), and when the ship beached,those on board were ordered by the smugglers to jump into the rough surf and swim ashore. The sea was so turbulent that it flipped a 22-foot Boston Whaler sent out to rescue the swimmers. Ten of the Chinese men died. The rest lay exhausted in the sand, tended to by medics, given food and water, and then arrested.

I am linking the full review of this book here, along with a suggestion that you consider adding this to your summer reading list. The book has been praised for its nuanced approach to the conflicts inherent in U.s. immigration policy as well as being a "rich beautifully told story."

"For much of its history," Patrick Radden Keefe writes, "the United States has suffered from a kind of bipolarity when it comes to matters of immigration." And so it was that the men and women on the Golden Venture were not embraced but instead imprisoned, most of them in a jail in York, Pa., where they remained for three years while the government tried to figure out how it viewed them: as illegal immigrants or refugees -- or something in between. Indeed, the Golden Venture, which Keefe points out brought "the single largest arrival of illegal aliens in modern American history," came to symbolize the tightly wound tension that has long characterized this nation's stance on immigration: the instinct to take in the tired and the poor versus the oft-expressed inclination to return new arrivals to their home countries. "The Snakehead" evocatively captures our yin and yang over immigration policy. Even if you know where you stand, you'll get tossed about enough in this compelling narrative that you won't necessarily end up where you began.

Retooling the efforst toward immigration reform (U.S.)

This article posted via AP discusses how immigration reform advocates are regrouping for a renewed push to get immigration reform back as a U.S. priority.

GOP declines to address NCLR (not smart)

It appears that the GOP has declined an invitation of the National Council of La Raza to address its membership. That should score some points with the Latino community.

Immigration and Health Care Reform

This fact sheet from the Immigration Policy Center indicates that immigrants WILL NOT be a drain on our health care system if the Obama plan to overhaul health insurance passes. In fact, the brief points out that U.S. citizen make up the majority (78%) of the uninsured, and as a rule, immigrants incur fewer health care costs than citizens. The reason for this is that they are younger and in better health, but they are also less likely to use emergency room care:

A 2006 study in Health Affairs found that communities with high rates of emergency room usage tend to have relatively small noncitizen populations. Cities with large immigrant populations (such as Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Phoenix, Arizona) have much lower rates of emergency room use than areas with small immigrant populations (such as Cleveland).

Immigration Reform: The Beginning

This post from NDN.org includes a quote from President Obama, indicating that he's ready to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.

Let the debate begin.

Mexican Immigrants: Coming and Going

The report from the Pew Hispanic Center indicates that although fewer Mexican immigrants are coming to the U.S., the numbers of Mexicans returning home has been stable since 2006.

Weekly Immigration Update

From NDN: An update on important immigration issues this week.

The Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Jorge Castanega and Tamar Jacoby make another strong case for comprehensive immigration reform. It's good to see arguments that stress we need to reform immigration policy so that it fits our reality, not the other way around.

Mexico Builds Border Wall

You have to love the Onion for taking our immigration discourse and turning it on its head.


Mexico Builds Border Wall To Keep Out US Assholes

E-verify? Is it a solution?

This is an interesting discussion on the E-verify system, the electronic system developed to inform employers if their applicants are actually legally authorized to work. The author argues that employer immigration enforcements are really the only way to address the failing immigration problem. He further states that the E-verify system, while imperfect, is a good start along this path.

I have no argument with finding a way to determine that employees are actually authorized to work in the U.S. I also support employer sanctions, because as this author seems to overlook, E-verify will not work if employers have decided they would prefer to hire an undocumented person. At the moment, E-verify is only required under certain circumstances, and as far as I can tell, there is no penalty for not using the system, even in those circumstances where it is required. There will have to come a time, if as a nation we are truly serious out reforming our immigration system, when we will have to come to acknowledge some hard truths. One of these is that we have to have strict penalties for employers and businesses that hire the undocumented.

The article ends with this statement:

The rational solution is a national identity card, which almost all other industrial countries have. The idea raises vehement opposition on the right and left, but we may go there through the back door as we create job cards, move toward universal health care and become ever more a part of massive information systems.

I could not agree more. Unfortunately, we may have a long road ahead of us before we're ready to face this necessity.

Immigraton reform on the horizon?

This article from today's Washington Post outlines the measures the Obama administration has taken of late, presumably as a "warm up" to immigration reform.

What's unfortunate here is the need to prove that this administration is tough on the issue. What I would hope from Obama is the start of a reasoned discussion about the issue, one that gets beyond the beefed-up enforcement vs. amnesty debate, which gets us nowhere.

The Latest 9500 Trailer

9500 Liberty, an interactive documentary following the immigration controversies in Manassas and Prince William County, VA, will be distributed later this year. For now, interested parties can follow their progress at the website (linked above).

I will be posting a discussion of the work I've been completing in PWC with my colleague, Carol Cleaveland, later this month.

California Targets Undocumented Immigrants

This NPR story about California's decision to go after undocumented immigrants suggests that the debate is ready to heat up again.

The real deal in Mexico

The article linked above is about a discovery of 12 Mexican federal agents who were tortured and killed in Michoacan, a state the borders Guanajuato. I haven't been in Mexico for nearly 2 years now, but I have heard reports from some of my Mexican friends in smaller villages that the drug cartels are changing the lives of ordinary Mexicans in what were once peaceful rural villages.

For those of you who live in Mexico, what's the story? Do you see a difference in the level of violence and crime where you live?

After the storm/surgery

My surgery went as well as anyone could have hoped. I'm still a few days post-op, but feeling better, although in a lot of pain. Now I have to long journey to recovery. When my adrenal glad was removed, my cortisol levels dropped, leaving me with Addison's disease (essentially the opposite of Cushing's Syndrome). My endocrinologist hopes this will be temporary, but it's hard to say how long it will take for my other adrenal gland to start working again. You see, it's been dormant for many months, perhaps years, while the other uber-adrenal over produced.

I'll be at home for at least a month recovering. If all goes well, I hope to be back to work (and a somewhat normal life) by early spring. After that, I can begin to think about so many things that have been put on hold (like my work in Mexico).

Right now I'm just thankful to be alive and recovering.

Time the Other issues

Having been away from this blog for a while, I've been mulling over the idea of getting back into this, albeit with a slightly different focus. As I mentioned in my last post in June, I have had a series of health problems in the last two years that have taken a good deal of my time and energy. Part of the problem has been not knowing exactly what is wrong--I have not felt well, I've had extremely high blood pressure, and I've had a very difficult time losing weight (although I have to admit, I love to eat, so I can't really pin that one on my disease).

All of this has been further complicated by the fact that my blood pressure shot up (180/120) in early September. I have a family history of hypertension, but this was really not the typical progression of "essential" (i.e., no known cause) hypertension. To complicate things, the blood pressure meds I was prescribed, some of them pretty heavy duty meds, weren't working.

After three months of tests, my physicians found a rather larger tumor on my adrenal gland. Adrenal tumors are not overly rare, but tumors that start to act like glands (which is what my tumor is doing) are extremely rare. As it turns out, the symptoms I have been experiencing, collectively known as Cushing's Syndrome, are caused by an
adrenal tumor that (in my case) pumps out massive amounts of cortisol (Hydrocortisone). As a result, I present as a person who is taking massive amounts of steroids--a fat, moon-shaped face, weight gain, extremely high blood pressure, fatigue, and a host of other symptoms.

From the time that I found out that the adrenal tumor was causing my problems, I was intent on having it removed. I had hoped to have surgery in early to mid-December, but my surgeon was booked until late January.

As I learned more about the surgery, however, what I had hoped would be a simple in-and-out procedure turned out to be a pretty major operation. Even if the procedure is performed laparoscopically, the location of the adrenal gland (right above my right kidney) makes it a deep and complicated procedure. The right kidney also lies closer to the vena cava, so the risk of hemorrhage is pretty high. If by chance the procedure cannot be done laproscopically (i.e., and would require a traditional surgical incision), then the entire procedure is even more dangerous. Still, I also realized that this tumor had to come out. There is no effective medical treatment for Cushings, and I also know I can't afford to walk around with a blood pressure that makes me a stroke waiting to happen.

Nevertheless, the decision to have surgery has not been an easy one. As much as I am willing to undergo this procedure and accept the risks of death or disability, I am the mother of two, and like most mothers, don't relish the thought of leaving my kids prematurely or being disabled to the point of not being able to take care of them. At the same time, I didn't feel like I had a choice--with each week since the end of December my symptoms have gotten worse. In short, I feel lousy and it's not going to get better. Surgery was scheduled for January 27.

Tuesday, January 27 was a snowy day here in Fairfax. My procedure was scheduled for 2 PM, so I didn't have to arrive at the hospital until noon. Surgery schedules being what they are, my procedure was delayed, and I wasn't taken back for my pre-op prep until 4:30. It had been a long day, I was dehydrated (and feeling it), tired, and feeling pretty nervous.

When they took my blood pressure and other vital signs, my blood pressure was 170/110. To me, this wasn't a surprise. As part of my pre-op orientation, I was told to not take one of my two blood pressure meds, and I was nervous. It was also late afternoon, and one's blood pressure does go up as the day progresses. Still, the anesthesiologist was having no part of this, despite the fact that the pre-op blood pressure is a symptom of Cushings, and I have to have surgery to cure the disease. He scolded me for not acknowledging that I am, in his words, "very ill."

It's not that I did not realize that I am very ill--in fact, I realize this every day. I just wanted to have surgery and get past this. But I had to wait.

In the intervening weeks, I was sent to an endocrinologist who increased my blood pressure meds. Surgery was rescheduled for Feb. 12. If my blood pressure continues to be high, I will be admitted to the hospital the day before surgery to regulate my
blood pressure. Now I just have to hold on and wait.

Breaking the Silence

It has been a while since I've posted here, for two (I think) very good reasons. The first is that when I returned from San Miguel last summer, I had a lot of data to process, and I'm still working on that material. The second is that I had a series of health issues that took all my time and energy, making my annual trips to Mexico less likely. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing okay right now, but I also know that I have to plan my future wisely. As much as I love Mexico and can't believe that this is the first summer in 15 years that I won't be there, there are times when you just have to take a step back and stay put.

At the same time, I've become involved with a new research project here in Northern Virginia, another "something" that I did not anticipate. When I finished my work in Kennett Square, I was ready to move permanently into my Mexican fieldwork and leave the world of gringos adjusting to their Latino neighbors to other scholars. Then Herdon, Virginia erupted into a firestorm of anti-immigrant controversy, and was soon followed by another larger, more organized (and troubling) anti-immigrant movement (The "Help Save" organizations) in Manassas, Virginia. Last fall I found myself drafting a research protocol to get into Manassas and talk to real people about their feelings about their changing communities, a project that just completed the first half (surveys) of Phase 1.

Phase 1 looks something like this: with a colleague, we picked a lovely neighborhood of about 1400 houses in the City of Manassas. We purposefully picked a location that was near a good bit of known immigrant housing (townhomes,apartments, small single family homes), but itself seemed to be a older established community of predominately Anglo-European Americans. We did a random door-to-door sample of one hundred of those households, asking residents about all types of issues in their community, like traffic, crime, taxes, and school changes. Now we are going back into the community to do extensive oral history interviews with 30 of the 100 informants who complete surveys to obtain a deeper, more nuanced idea of what is going on in Manassas. The idea here is to really understand the experiences and perspectives of people in the community.

In this regard, my life and work have changed a great deal in the last year--I was in Mexico one year ago today talking to Mexicans and Foreign expats about San Miguel de Allende. I still hope to get back to that project, but at the same time, I have a lot of material that I have work with on that project, and SMA is not going anywhere.

I just wanted to provide a small update for the regular, and very faithful readers.

Another DR follow-up: Younger Expats

When I started working in SMA, I jokingly referred to the project as "The Old Gringos." That was before I hit the field for the first time and realize that the expat community consisted of a variety of age groups, and not necessarily all were retired.

Earlier today I received this comment about the show:

It was only mentioned in passing on the show but I was wondering if you would have any information on how many young individuals (couples) (20-40)are moving to Mexico. Is there a community in SMA, and are many people coming with young children? Do you know of any other cities (except for Gdl and D.F) which are seeing the immigration on younger peoples from the North? Are there jobs available for academics in smaller cities?
My fiance is Mexican ( I met him in Mexico 6 years ago) and we have been living in Canada for the past two years. I hold a MSc from Mcgill University in Montreal and did my research in Latin America.
I have lots of friends abroad and in Mexico but am curious to know if many couples from Canada and the US have made the move and how there children manage with such things schooling in the public school system?
(It is hard to leave family isn't it?)

This is a good question. I have not done research in other Mexican cities yet, but I know of a few places where expat immigration is common, even younger expats. The first is the city of Puebla and the nearby village of Cholula are another place (and both are among my favorite places in Mexico). Cholula is the home of the Universidad de las Americas (UDLA), a bilingual university that has a substantial number of expat faculty. If you are an academic, UDLA would be a good place to start looking for a position.

If you are thinking about making the move south, I would strongly suggest that you take an extended vacation to the place(s) you are considering first. If you and your kids speak Spanish, there are many good options available to you, especially larger cities that have more educational and job opportunities. SMA does have a good elementary school system, but parents were pretty honest about the fact that they know there are trade-offs raising kids in Mexico. They are bilingual and grow up in a supportive, friendly environment. But they will not get the same types of educational opportunities (i.e., fewer computer classes), but that is not to say that the educational opportunities are inferior. They will be different, but I have yet to meet an expat family that regrets their move to SMA.

One thing that really bothered me is the fact that you really have very little time to make a point on a program like this. I guess this is why the "sound-bite" is so essential. One thing I would have liked to discuss is how easy it is to develop friends and social networks among expats. True, it would be difficult to leave one's family and friends in the U.S., but as I've mentioned here before, many expats in SMA see their friends as pseudo-family. I cannot tell you how many times older expats have talked about the care and support they receive from others in the community. So in a way, the network can mitigate the difficulty of being away from one's extended family.

The Diane Rehm Show follow-up

It was an interesting experience being on the Diane Rehm show this morning. I enjoyed talking with Diane, who is always an engaging and intelligent host. I was also pleased with the response to the topic--during the show there were a large volume of calls and emails about expatriate experiences. This is not surprising, considering the traffic I see with my blog.

There were a few frustrations about the level of conversation that is possible on a radio show like this, however. First, it felt like we were moving too quickly from topic to topic, so many of the issues discussed were inadequately addressed. This is not a surprise, as we only have about 40 minutes to discuss a complex topic. However, the time constraints between breaks, announcements, and introductions really limited what we could cover. Second, I came away from the program concerned that some listeners might have an incorrect picture of expatriate life and experience.

One example of this is the issue of friends. Diane was correct to inquire about leaving friends and family behind to live in another country. Caren mentioned that she was able to maintain connections to her friends in the U.S., but neither of us were able to talk about the close-knit nature of expatriate life, and how easy it often is to make friends in abroad.

Another is the nature of expat-Mexican relationships in SMA. Caren mentioned that Mexican families rarely look to the expat community for friendships, as most of their social lives are based on family and long-term friendships. I would have like to add that native San Miguel residents often consciously separate their social lives from the expat community as a means to limit U.S. cultural influence. Mexicans who move into SMA from other parts of Mexico, however, are much more likely to initiate friendships with expats in SMA. The reason for this is that both groups are newcomers to SMA, and in many cases, they are looking for the same things: to build a new life, form a community, new friends, etc.

Because I am an academic, I (obviously) prefer to communicate my research through means that allow time to develop an idea or argument. Nevertheless, it is always good to get one's ideas "out there," and the Diane Rehm show is probably one of the best venues in journalism to do this. If you were able to listen to the show and have comments, I would be interested to hear them. If you were not able to hear the show live, you can download it as a podcast at the link above.

The Gringa Wireless

The Gringa will be appearing on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday November 6 from 11-12 noon. I'll be talking about my research in San Miguel de Allende. For my readers in Mexico, you can listen to the show on-line if you follow the link above.

Digital Immigration Debate

For the past few weeks I've been tuning into 9500 Liberty, an "interactive" documentary filmed and produced by Annabel Park and Eric Byler about the immigration controversy in Prince William County Virginia. The film is an independent documentary, but instead of editing, cutting and otherwise shaping the film (as most filmmakers do), Park and Byler decided to post raw footage on Youtube immediately, with the hope of encouraging open debate on the issue. Linked here is one of the most frequently watched clips. I encourage you to visit the 9500 Liberty site to see more. Park and Byler have attempted to engage the complexities of the controversy, and so far, have succeeded.

Lost and Found in Mexico: U.S. screenings

Caren Cross's documentary film about expatriate life in San Miguel will be screening in several festivals this fall. I'm extremely pleased to announce that she'll be at George Mason University in Fairfax on Monday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 at the Johnson Center Cinema (admission is free). If you are in the D.C. are and have an interest in life in San Miguel, I strongly encourage you to attend.

Here is the complete film schedule for this fall:

Boston: The Boston Film Festival Sunday, September 16 at 12:00


Washington D.C/Fairfax, VA: Fall for the Book festival at George Mason
University
Monday, Sept. 24 7:30 at the Johnson Center Cinema

Philadelphia: Mexican Society of Philadelphia Friday, September 28 5:30 For reservations email tedburkett@aol.com

Atlanta: DocuFest Atlanta
Saturday, Sept 29 8:45

Birmingham, AL: Sidewalk Moving Picture Film Festival Sunday, Sept 30 1:00

New York/New Jersey area:Hope and Dreams Film Festival, Hope NJ (one hour from Manhattan: I-80, Exit 12).
Oct 6 (tentative, check schedule)

Fort Lauderdale: Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Oct. 20 3:00


Toronto:
October 27, 28. Details TBA


Wilmington, North Carolina: Cucalorus Film Festival
November 7-10 Details TBA


Concord, N.H.: S.N.O.B. Film Festival (Somewhere North of Boston)
November 9-11 Details TBA

FEMA: A visit to New Orleans

This is my first visit to New Orleans. I've long been a huge fan of Tennessee Williams, so I had often wanted to visit here, but it was never one of my first vacation priorities. Katrina changed that, along with just about everything else about New Orleans. My husband and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in a few days, so we decided that New Orleans would be a great place to get away for a few days.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, thousands of immigrants came to the city to find work in the clean-up effort. When locals decried using immigrants, many of whom were undocumented and thus being paid lower wages, the Federal Government decided to pay the recovery crews union wages. This, it was believed, would discourage employers from hiring undocumented workers.

But it did not work. As with so many instances in the debate on undocumented immigration, things are often more complicated that they first appear, or that we believe they should be. It turns out that the employers preferred the undocumented, the majority were Mexicans, and continued to hire them and then pay them higher wages.

The first night here in town Ken and I passed a t-shirt shop with a number of post-Katrina themed shirts, emblazoned with sayings like:

"FEMA Evacuation Plan: Run Bitch, Run"

and my personal favorite:

"FEMA (Find Every Mexican Available)"

I am happy to report that New Orleans is still a lovely place, and exceedingly interesting. I'm in the French Quarter and I have not seen too many Mexicans or Latinos here, but there is still plenty of charm.

Raising Kids in Mexico

One of the more frequent requests I receive is advice about raising children in Mexico. I have two children, and I have lived with them, alone and with my husband, when they were three and nine (I have twins). However, I have only lived in Mexico on a short-term basis, so what I will report here is based on interviews I have had with expats and Mexicans who have lived and raised their children in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Before I go too far into this discussion, I want to emphasize that too often Americans will compare their options in the U.S. and Mexico as if there were only two variables at work (i.e., saying something simplistic like, "Schools are better in the U.S. than in Mexico"). The truth is, in the U.S. parents and others make choices every day about the type of lives they want to lead, and each choice made means that there were other options that were not selected. For instance, I'm not thrilled about living in American suburbia: it's an isolated existence, we're car dependent in many respects, and things are too sterile and consistent for my taste. The schools are great, however, and my husband and I have made this "deal with the devil": we live in the burbs because it works well for one set of priorities (the kids). We realize we could live a much different life in my home state (West Virginia) or my husband's (Pennsylvania), particularly in a college town. To make that move, we would have to give up living close to the city and the benefits we enjoy here: museums, world-class performing arts, great restaurants and bi-lingual schools. The schools in WV are not bad, but they just cannot offer the same programs and experiences we enjoy here.

I know all of this seems obvious, but the fact that our options are limited even in the U.S. it is something that is often overlooked in these types of discussions.

What is it like to raise children in Mexico, and specifically San Miguel? It depends on the age of your children. Most everyone I know in SMA (myself included) believe that small children (younger than 12) really benefit from the Mexican family lifestyle. Children are cherished in a way that is (I believe) almost incomprehensible in the U.S. For the most part, young children are not expected to act like little adults in public, so you don't have to worry if your baby cries during a solemn church service or wedding (yes! you can bring children to weddings in Mexico) and you can take small children nearly everywhere. It is common for couples with babies and young children to take them to dances during fiesta season, for example. The children play together while the adults socialize. It is really quite charming.

Specific to the SMA Expat community: if you're a young mother, for instance, you'll find a "mommy" group, but you'll also find a large number of people of different ages who will also support your parenting endeavors. You can also expect childcare to be less expensive than in the U.S., but to be honest, it depends on where you live to make this comparison soundly. I live in suburban D.C., and the summer camps for school-age children are not less expensive in SMA than here in Fairfax. If I were in West Virginia or some areas of Pennsylvania, I expect most childcare would be significantly less expensive than SMA.

My children LOVE going to Mexico. They have more freedom there than in the U.S., and opportunities to do things that we might not be able to afford in the U.S. For instance, my daughter took private tennis lessons last summer (we have to settle for group lessons here) and I have friends in SMA who are big equestrians and their children compete in events that are largely the hobbies of the rich and famous in the U.S. Art and music classes in Mexico are generally very affordable as well.

While some activities are more accessible, others are less so. There are fewer organized sports (especially for girls), beyond soccer, so children who want to play organized baseball or basketball will not have that opportunity in SMA. The availability of sports will vary with the community in Mexico, however. Where I did my first fieldwork project in another community in Guanajuato there were baseball leagues for kids. Also, sturdy girls who really want to play can join boys. I have a good American friend in Quito, Ecuador, and his daughter plays soccer in the boys league, and she is the only girl in the city doing this (we fully expect her to receive a Division I scholarship when she returns for college). Alternatively, there are pick-up games in Parque Juarez in SMA, and there are summer sports camps available for children as well.

The big issue that concerns the parents of younger children in SMA is the educational system. As is the case in the U.S., educational options are variable from family to family. I have met parents who have been adamant that the trade off of living in a loving supportive community outweighs the lack of great schools, and that the Mexican schools are just fine and their children will study in Mexico schools through high school. Most parents agree that the primary school offerings are adequate but high school is not, and many reported concern that their children are not getting the same exposure to science education and computer literacy that is common in the U.S.

Some parents of high school age children opt to send their children to the U.S. to live with relatives during high school, to leave SMA so their children can study in the U.S. or another country, and I met one family that will be sending a child to a private boarding school in the U.S. I also interviewed one woman who explicitly stated that her now grown children did not have the same educational opportunities that they would have had if they had grown up in the U.S., and that was her one regret about raising her children in Mexico. Despite the lack of educational options, I met only one family that home-schooled their children. I was surprised by this, and still wonder why this is not a more common option for parents who are concerned about the educational system in Mexico.

The larger issue (from my perspective) is the socialization of children who are raised in the Expat community and how that experience shapes them and their future relationships. While every parent I spoke to this year and last is convinced that the experience of growing up in Mexico is a good thing for their kids, my interviews with the grown children of expats have not demonstrated that the experiences were unequivocally positive. Keep in mind that I have only interviewed grown children who still live in SMA--I have not had access to adults who were raised in SMA but now live in the U.S. Of the group that remains in SMA (and it is small), it is significant that these children of expats have decided to remain in SMA and report being happy there. A few also had regrets: living far from extended families was not a big problem growing up, but later in life (after parents passed away) it made life much more isolated than it might have been. Some grown expat children also reported feeling alienated or out of place in the U.S. and in San Miguel. For the most part, adult children of expats seemed to feel most at home in San Miguel when their own parents were more integrated into the community.

What is not clear is how "bi-cultural" expat children are or will be. By this I mean it is not clear if children raised in San Miguel are truly able to easily work and adapt to life in both the U.S. and Mexico. Clearly, the adult expat children raised in SMA were functioning well in SMA, but as I have noted previously on this blog, SMA is certainly not typical of life in Mexico. The young parents who are currently raising their children in Mexico believe that there is an inherent benefit to being completely bilingual (and I concur), but it is not clear that children or their adult parents are (regardless of their language abilities) are bi-cultural. I mention this only because many people in the U.S. write to me indicating that they want to move to SMA for a Mexican cultural experience. While SMA is part of Mexico, the local culture is not so much Mexican as a Mexican-Expat hybrid. It's not Mexican, it's not U.S. (or Canadian, or foreign), but a combination of the several cultural traditions that is in itself a distinct culture. That is (from my academic perspective) fascinating, but living in SMA does not mean that a foreigner who enjoys SMA could expect to live comfortably or successfully in other parts of Mexico or Latin America.

There are other concerns about raising children in Mexico that were not raised by my informants, but I have observed watching Mexican immigrant families in the U.S. One is freedom: kids in Mexico have a lot of it. This works well because families tend to be well connected and even if your mother is not watching your every move, you can bet that one of her friends (or a friend of your grandmother, aunts, uncles or cousins) will be watching and report straight back to your folks if you do something you should not. Mexican families in the U.S. are often shocked at the behavior of their teen-age children who do what they want shamelessly (sin vergüenzados). It takes a while for Mexican parents in the U.S. to figure out that without the vigilance of friends and family, their child rearing techniques do not work very well in the U.S. It seems unlikely that expat families have the same connections and "village" experience raising their children, as most Americans are not deeply connected to native San Miguelenses. The expat community is very close, however, so it could be that people watch out for neighborhood children in a similar way that Mexican families do. I simply cannot say definitely that they do.

My advice for anyone considering moving their family to SMA: you have to consider why you want to move and what you expect to gain for your life there. Like any community in the U.S., there will be benefits and limitations to living in Mexico. There are other locations in Mexico that I would choose over San Miguel to raise my own children, but that is related to the fact that the children and I already speak Spanish and living among Mexicans would be a top priority for our family. That is not a criticism of SMA; its a personal preference. What you have to remember is that what SMA has to offer is a strong, supportive community which is worth a great deal, especially in today's world.

The return of the Gringa

It's been a while, I know. After my return from SMA in June, I realized I was complete fried and needed a break from just about everything. My family and I went to the beach, then we started moving into a recently acquired cabin situated in a remote location in the West Virginia mountains.

We were there over the July 4th weekend, cleaning things out and setting up furniture, and we finally had the telephone installed (the only technology I'll allow in the cabin--there will be no Internet or satellite TV). On Saturday evening the phone rang, and I was startled to hear Lucille (a fascinating woman I recently met in San Miguel) on the other end. It turns out Lucille is visiting her son who lives in a similarly remote location in Pennsylvania, and she decided to look me up. How she found me (recall we just moved in) is another story, but her call made me realize that I could remain in a persistent mental vegetative state for many weeks before I actually start to feel ready to work again, so why not start now?

To be honest, the only reason I can think of is that I still feel like being lazy, but that sounds pretty lame. I think part of the problem has been having too much material to process, but that will not happen unless I get started.

So looks like I'm back in business. More soon...